Daily Deercam.

Doe and button buck at the cam across the creek.


This guy owned this scrape last year. He's a little bigger this year but so narrow I don't think he will ever be legal to shoot. Must look spectacular from the side.


Little buck beginning to wonder what is going on.

Got across the creek though it is still running strong after the rains. A fresh scrape on the way in.

Daily Deercam.

Nice 10 point wandering around.


We saw several nice bucks circling does on the drive back from Elgin.


Fresh scrape just off the trail but not a print anywhere else. Rains re-set all the dirt and signs.


Here he is at another cam 150 yards away, just a few minutes earlier.



Big rains over the weekend while I was at the Service Rifle Championship. We needed them but I couldn't get across the creek this morning to the cams over there. Maybe tomorrow.

Daily Deercam.

Bulky young buck with terrible antlers. Yug.




Wandering Bobcat.


Doe and yearlings.


Little 1 1/2 year old with nice genes. Going to be wondering whats going on in a bit.

Never had four cams all running at one time. Everything is live. Just barely two weeks to hunting season. No big bucks in evidence but lots of activity.

Bored does and bopping bucks.

Drowned cam came back to life with a fresh battery and three months to dry out. I had nearly tossed it. Still glitchy but it's back on the tree and overlooking some corn. Cam on the hillside has gone bad with verrrrrrrrrrrry slow reset times on the software. Others running fine. 158 photos of leaves moved by the wind on the newest.
Copperhead crossing the trail when I came back down. Hate to kill anything out of the ecosystem without a good reason, but I did.

Knives.

Nepalese patch knife from Queen Victoria's reign. Horn handle. This is the bad one. The Redhead snatched the good one.


Nepalese patch knife and a PAL RH-36.

We use a lot of knives cutting up deer. I've got several plus a couple of dads old big pocket knives. When you are butchering three or four does you can run through every fresh edge you have, so you better have several. In an Atlanta Cutlery catalog I saw 160 year old Nepalese patch knives, issued with every musket to cut patch. They were on sale so I bought a couple, thinking we might use them. No point in not using vintage knives for the enjoyment of history if we are going to be tooled up. From there I discovered trench knives on Ebay, and then WWII issued fighting knives. I knew about the M3 Trench knives issued with M1 Carbines but I knew nothing about the million fighting blades issued to troops during WWII. Old used ones are cheap if they have been sharpened, have pitted blades, et. I sat down and won four or five without ever breaking 20 bucks a blade, shipped. They are showing up like Christmas presents just in time to get edged and carried in the field. The Nepalese patch knives showed up today- never issued or sharpened, gummy with cosmoline, horn handled. Also a Westcut and a PAL RH 36. Beautiful old things. I hope we can get the rust off and the edges sharp enough to enjoy them up at Clarksville. I'm enjoying them already as objects d'art. If nothing else they make the most awesome paper weights and envelope openers ever.

Daily Deer Cam

Coyotes around as always.


I love these kind of photos. Little 1 1/2 year old buck, or part of him.


Doe standing where the coyote was. There wasn't a scrape to be seen but she knows where it's GOING to be...


Doe rubbing the overhanging licking branch. They are getting interested.


Nice little buck. Not shootable size but always glad to see the traffic. There isn't any discernable rub or scrape from this year but lots of traffic on cam.


Little spike. Good genes in this area so he will be better next year. Five different bucks on this cam.


Bigger buck. Might be the one that owned this scrape last year. Shootable.

Both cams up and running. Lots of prints but no rubs and no scrapes obvious. Nice to see little bucks around. I shot some engagement photos and was given a gift card to the local Academy. Going to add a cam to replace the one that drowned in the flood when the dam on the lake broke.

Deer cams, like anything in the private sector- computers, phones, lasic eye surgery, Toyotas, cameras, computers....getting better and better fast. Government stuff, like public schooling, bureacracies and law enforcement....failing. Why is this?

K22 Grips.

K22 Grips for less than 20 bucks, shipped.


Cheap, cheesy, plastic target grips for my Colt Python. They FEEL great. Everything on Ebay somewhere.

Ebay is a great thing. These correct target grips were in Canada. Low price due to the condition but heck, my pistol is pretty beat. Can't wait to shoot it. The fellow even included a Canadian dollar coin to show the Redhead.

Update: Every time I clean the K22 I get another big hunking swag of lint, dirt and oil out of some crevice, nook or dark hole. Still toothpicking around. A=Seems to get a little cleaner and smoother every time I shoot and clean it.

Scores held up in Garand, 1903 and Vintage Military.

Hatfull of CMP medals.

I missed the second day of shooting because of Justin and Kim Utley's wedding. Shot all the matches on Saturday. Long slog. Looks like I ended up with the top scores in Garand, Vintage and Springfield 1903 Bolt Rifle. Got gold CMP medals for shooting top national scores with all four rifles, but Ron Leraas shot a 365 with his M1 Carbine and beat my 360.
I've won the Garand twice now and the Vintage four or five times. Never won the Springfield1903 Championship before. Been second with an M1 Carbine several times but only for a Silver Medal score. Fun matches. The National Match Director Rick Crawford, Dave Wilson and Alan Wilson ran the matches and Terrell Rifle and Pistol Club hosted them. Much fun.

IBM M1 Carbine ran well. I just shot a couple of sevens. Stayed in the aiming black all the way with the Garand for a 290. Shot better than that with my Swiss K31 but ruined the score by crossfiring next door for a 281. Shot a medium 282 with the 1903A3 Springfield. Garand had quit feeding but started right back when I tightened the loose gas plug.

Texas State Rifle Association Garand Championship.

Emily and Mitchell Hogg with Em's Carbine. She just let her brother (SFA) lean in.


Dad and sons on the end of the 100 yard Range at Terrell Rifle and Pistol Club.


Jeff Lin and his Garand.


David Keys lines up his 1903A3.


I didn't get many shots of the line. Usually it was full but I was in it. This is the last relay of Saturday.


Em Hogg with her CMP North Store Carbine.


Katy Foster from SHSU.


Rusty Hogg with his Garand.


Gregg Foster with a 1903A3.


One of the young fellows with a Garand that planted a shiner under his eye. I'm sure his thumb got him. You have to put your cheekbone on the back of your thumb and ride the recoil. Any separation and it comes back and whacks you. Usually a fingertip will get your lip!

Still shooting today, though I have to be at the Justin and Kim Utley's wedding so I can't go shoot. Nice crowd of folks with a lot of old wooden-stocked rifles. It delayed us with rain early but then got better. We waited it out in the big members building while watching radar and satelite images on phones and ipads. It's a great life.
Rick ran the match. David Wilson called the lines. Alan Wilson cooked some pretty good five buck range burgers. Karl Schultz helped sort out sacks of Greek HXP ammo from the CMP.
I finished the day in the lead for Garand, Springfield and Vintage. We'll see if any of those scores hold up. Much better shooting conditions today, cooler and drier with more light.

Update: After all the carbine work I shot the best M1 Carbine score I had ever shot...but it wasn't enough. Too many in the white. Shot a 360 but a 365 won. Ron Leraas is the Carbine King! My little IBM goes back in the cabinet for another year. Garand and the 1903A3 are clean, K31 in the rack. Probably hunt deer with them in a month.

M1 Carbine work.

10/22 with Yankee Hill Suppressor. (Too much suppressor.) Titan Barrel. Serial number in the first 9000.


Three holes high and left are from starting with the muzzle brake on. I took it off and shot the last two of five in the top of the 10-ring. The next five round mag is scattered vertically in the black.


USGI Muzzle Brake. Easy on and off, but it moved the zero considerably. Didn't seem to make a huge difference in the recoil.

Started off prone with a cold barrel at 100 yards. I put the muzzle brake on. It moved the zero up and to the left by about a foot at 100. The group was terrific, just in the wrong place. I removed the brake and the last two shot went back where the zero was, in the top of the 10-ring.

Shot a little suppressed 10/22. Wolf Match Target. It shoots well and you can see them flip downrange in the scope. Just can't get a Ruger magazine to feed reliably. The bullets stick in the mag and keep the rotating center from feeding.

Shot my k22 pistol 30 rounds just for fun. It's fun.

Daily Deer Cam

Mom.



Fawn 1.


Fawn 2.


Bigfoot!

Cams both pointing at scrape sites...but no scrapes yet. They just see a little coon and fawn traffic. Got to be close...

Smith and Wesson and Wesson.

Shot both pistols today. Wolf Match target. Much fun, all at 25 yards bullseye, one-handed. The S&W has a much better trigger than the Dan Wesson. The Dan is a very chunky pistol with an oversized grip. Might shoot better with another stock.

Really enjoying the K22. Found out that the stag stocks that Dad had on his were really Franite! I can find them on Ebay. Have a target set of grips coming for it.